>, most often, milo is being sly, and witty, (and sometimes we miss that, because his tongue is stuck so firmly in his cheek as to make his words hard to understand!

Most often he's being the sort of spoiled brat who thinks causing pain is fun, and grows up to be a serial killer, wondering why nobody else gets his "jokes". That is, of course, assuming that such a person grows up. No sign of that here.